Starting a car related business
Discussion
Really bored of my current career. Been in telecoms for the past eleven years.
I really get a buzz out of cars especially ones i wanted as a child.
I have an idea to setup a garage selling cars from the mid to late 80s through to the mid to late 90s. Im talking about cars like the BMW M3, Mercedes 190E Cosworth, Porsche 944s, Audi S4 etc.
I would source myself and sell on at a small mark up.
How would i start somthing like this up?
Is there money to be made in this type of business?
Any ideas where these sorts of cars come up for sale at 'good' prices?
I have also considered starting of by buying regular ('04 plate Audi A4 1.9 tdi SE) cars from auction, cleaning up and selling privatly. Any money to be made here? any tips?
Cheers :-)
I really get a buzz out of cars especially ones i wanted as a child.
I have an idea to setup a garage selling cars from the mid to late 80s through to the mid to late 90s. Im talking about cars like the BMW M3, Mercedes 190E Cosworth, Porsche 944s, Audi S4 etc.
I would source myself and sell on at a small mark up.
How would i start somthing like this up?
Is there money to be made in this type of business?
Any ideas where these sorts of cars come up for sale at 'good' prices?
I have also considered starting of by buying regular ('04 plate Audi A4 1.9 tdi SE) cars from auction, cleaning up and selling privatly. Any money to be made here? any tips?
Cheers :-)
General rule of this sort of thing is that the money is made on the purchase, not the sale. You can only sell at the market price so you have to buy at below market price. Best way to do that is to be in the right palce at the right time with the rioght amount of cash.
Quite often with cars you will buy something that has something wrong with it. Unless you have a way to fix it at low cost then you will find that your competition are selling these cars on without mentioning the problem. Will you be able to do that?
Quite often with cars you will buy something that has something wrong with it. Unless you have a way to fix it at low cost then you will find that your competition are selling these cars on without mentioning the problem. Will you be able to do that?
The trick is sourcing the cars. One second hand dealer near Maidstone used to take all the part exchanges of the Audi/BMW franchise in Kent and Sussex. He would then sell them on for a small mark up, and compulsory warranty.
But he was effectively getting good quality cars at a very competitive price so could afford to do it.
You would need some similar deal with a dealer in your area.
The trick is not to hold the cars for too long, turn them quickly. You also need very cheap premises, as alot of car sales are done through Autotrader and Ebay now days. The market is also very quiet.
As someone else has said I'd try a spell in the business as an employee first before investing your own money in it!
But he was effectively getting good quality cars at a very competitive price so could afford to do it.
You would need some similar deal with a dealer in your area.
The trick is not to hold the cars for too long, turn them quickly. You also need very cheap premises, as alot of car sales are done through Autotrader and Ebay now days. The market is also very quiet.
As someone else has said I'd try a spell in the business as an employee first before investing your own money in it!
As has been said, now is quite possibly the worst time to do this in about ten years.
The only untapped niche I can think would be to advertise a service where you can buy shiny newish motors people have bought with unsecured credit for cash, as they can't afford the payments, or alternatively a 'swop' with cash for something 25% of its value.
Whilst the 'classics' side of things is a nice idea, and something there is a market for through collectors or nostalgic people, that is a small, small niche. The superrich don't want one of the last E36 M3 GTs ever made but someone on say £20k a year may do, and have it as his weekend car, as his pride and joy. The problem is that at the moment, he has no spare cash.
The only untapped niche I can think would be to advertise a service where you can buy shiny newish motors people have bought with unsecured credit for cash, as they can't afford the payments, or alternatively a 'swop' with cash for something 25% of its value.
Whilst the 'classics' side of things is a nice idea, and something there is a market for through collectors or nostalgic people, that is a small, small niche. The superrich don't want one of the last E36 M3 GTs ever made but someone on say £20k a year may do, and have it as his weekend car, as his pride and joy. The problem is that at the moment, he has no spare cash.
Rav said:
I have also considered starting of by buying regular ('04 plate Audi A4 1.9 tdi SE) cars from auction, cleaning up and selling privatly. Any money to be made here? any tips?
You can't just decide if it's a private sale, if you buy at auction with the intention of selling on for profit then your a trader. That means proper accounting/tax liable on profit, vat when you hit the turnover threshold (not hard if trading cars) and of course being bound by sale of goods act etc with an effective 3 month warranty.you will need to be vat registered to buy from most auctions and also to buy part exchanges from most small garages. Dont bet on leap frogging thier favourite regular traders that usually buy there part exs, anytime soon. If you sell from home your neighbours WILL ring , hmrc, council etc, its a very hard trade to make money out of nowdays.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff